Rich Wyman says he felt a need to help his fellow local musicians in Park City find gigs during the recession.
So he called a meeting with the Park City Restaurant Association three months ago.
“All I wanted to do was encourage the restaurants and clubs to hire more local live musicians,” Wyman said during an interview with The Park Record. “There are a lot of local musicians who want to play. And the music scene here needs a boost.”
During the meeting, Wyman talked with 30 restaurant representatives.
“I said I was there to speak about music,” he said. “And more specifically, I wanted to talk about live music and local live musicians.”
Wyman understood most of the restaurants’ entertainment budget had been cut, due to the economy. But he also said hiring live talent could draw clients during the ski-season boom.
“I suggested that we could all help each other,” Wyman explained. “I mean Park City could be a real happening place for music.”
At one point, one of the restaurant representatives asked Wyman if he would be the point of contact.
“I was like a deer in the headlights,” he said. “The last thing I wanted to be was a booking agent. But I said ‘Yes.'”
Wyman then gave out his cards and walked outside, all the while thinking to himself, “What have I done?”
Luckily an associate, whom Wyman wanted to keep anonymous, told him not to worry.
“She said, ‘We’ll have the bands send us their information and we’ll put it up on a website,’ ” Wyman explained.
“Restaurants would be able access the website and find bands to fulfill their needs,” he said. “It’s a great way to share information.”
A couple of weeks ago, LMNOP’s website www.lmnop.co (notice the suffix is co and not com) went live.
“The whole idea is up and running now and everyone is enthusiastic about it,” Wyman said. “The musicians are excited to be able to get their names out there and the venues are excited that they have a place they can go to find musicians.”
Still there is plenty of room for new talent on the website, Wyman said.
“But we want to make sure the musicians available through LMNOP have a certain quality, regardless of the style of music they play,” he said. “We needed a process to ensure the quality of musicianship and professionalism is at a high level, because I don’t want a restaurant to call me after booking someone to tell me the musician was awful.”
So LMNOP will have an open audition, Sunday, Dec. 12, for Summit and Wasatch County-based musicians at Riffs Acoustic Music coffee house/learning center, 1205 Iron Horse Drive. The music will start at 7 p.m.
“Anyone from the area who wants to work and play publicly is invited to come, sign up and play a song,” Wyman said. “They also need to provide a photograph. If they don’t have a photograph, we’ll have a photographer on site.”
“There will also be a biography writer on site as well,” he said. “Some artists don’t have bios they can hand out to potential hirers. So this is a good way to get them connected.”
In addition, LMNOP is inviting restaurant, nightclub and art gallery representatives to the audition.
“We’ll have contracts on site, and if a restaurant, or gallery or nightclub likes an artist, they can sign and book a performing deal that night,” he said. “Artists and restaurants have the opportunity to book their entire ski season on Dec. 12.”
This won’t be the only audition for LMNOP, Wyman said. But it will be a little while until the next one is held.
“I’m thinking of holding auditions every quarter winter, spring, summer and fall,” he said. “We’ll have an open call and then after they’re done, we’ll close it off until the next quarter and open it up again.
“That way we won’t have people calling us all the time, asking us to sign up for the website. They can just come to the next audition call.”
Wyman said the auditions are also a way to keep tabs on artists’ professionalism.
“Some musicians will have a great MP3, but not be able to play live,” he said. “And some artists who have only bad recordings to show for themselves, may actually be very good live.”
Above all, the musicians who will be allowed to take advantage of LMNOP must be professional, Wyman said.
“They need to be polite and play without hurting people’s ears,” he said. “I’ve found those who show up on time, ready to play and have great attitudes are the ones who will continue to work.
“If they don’t get along with others and play well, they will be taken out of the loop.”
Wyman said if musicians show potential, but don’t make the cut, LMNOP wouldn’t abandon them.
“We’re not going to be like ‘American Idol’ judge Simon Cowell and say, ‘Get out of here,'” Wyman said. “We’re going to give them a lot of constructive criticism and give them tips on how to make their playing better. Heck, they can come here to Riffs and take lessons and perform at open mic nights to hone their skills in preparation for the next audition.”
Wyman said supporting local musicians and local venues is a way to keep Park City exciting and viable.
“The Park City Chamber of Commerce tells us to buy, shop and support local,” he said. “So this is the same kind of thing. When we support local musicians, it’s good for the local economy. And that’s good for a healthy local music scene.”
Auditions for LMNOP will be held Sunday, Dec. 12, at Riffs Acoustic Music coffee house/learning center, 1205 Iron Horse Drive. The music will start at 7 p.m. Admission is free.